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SPN Sewadaar

A 'domineering' father with a 'nasty temper' allegedly murdered his daughter during an argument about her playing music too loud, a court heard today.

Gurmeet Singh Ubhi, 54, strangled his 24-year-old daughter Amrit at the family home in Telford, Shropshire, when he was woken up after he finished working a night shift, Leicester Crown Court was told.

Rachel Brand, prosecuting, said that Ubih, a practising Sikh, got into a struggle with his daughter in the conservatory of the family home in Leegomery last September after he tried to use the remote control to turn down the music.

Amrit Ubhi: Her fatrher is charged with murdering her because music on the TV was too loud and had woken him up

She said he told police his daughter attacked him and in the ensuing struggle he suddenly found his hands around her neck.

Miss Brand told the jury of eight women and four men that Ubhi, who denies murdering his daughter, had a problematic relationship with Amrit, his son Harmeet and his wife Satinder after a period of estrangement.
The couple parted in 1997 when the children were young and Ubhi went on to re-marry, Miss Brand said.

But his second marriage broke down, she added, because he was sent to prison after attacking his second wife with a chisel.

She said: 'It shows very clearly that this man is a man who is capable of losing his temper in a very drastic fashion in the context of a domestic argument.'

The court heard that Ubhi reconciled with his first wife Satinder and the rest of the family when they paid him frequent visits in prison and upon his release he moved back into the family home.

Gurmeet Singh Ubhi got into a struggle with his daughter after he tried to use the TV's remote control. Miss Brand also told the court that Ubhi did not approve of his daughter's boyfriend.

'The relationship between her (Amrit) and her father was not good,' she said.

'He also did not like the fact that she had a white English boyfriend who she had been seeing for a number of years - a serving soldier called Stuart Loakes.'

Miss Brand said Ubhi was not happy when he moved back into the family home and found the children had grown-up and had more freedom than he approved of.

She said using the term 'Westernised' to describe how Ubhi felt about his children would not be appropriate and added: 'In this case it has to do with an old-fashioned father who thought his children should do what he thought. It is not really a cultural thing.'

Miss Brand said: 'From the very start it appears that this defendant was a domineering husband who wanted to control every aspect of the lives of his wife and, in due course, the lives of his children.'

She said Ubhi told police that on the day of his daughter's death he had returned home from his night shift at Sainsbury's and after sleeping for a couple of hours was woken up.

He went downstairs and found Amrit in the conservatory watching television with loud music. She said Ubhi told police he tried to turn it down and she attacked him.

'She came at him, biting and scratching. He said his hands somehow came to her neck,' she said.

'Eventually, he said, she was on the floor with his hands around her neck and her head suddenly fell to the side. He said he was shocked because he had not used much force.'

Immediately after the fight, Ubhi rang friends, family members and his brother to essentially say 'goodbye and god bless you', Miss Brand said.
He then got in his car and drove to a police station in Wellington where he told police about the argument and that they would find his daughter in the house.

She added: 'This is a case of a man with a very nasty temper who lashes out in arguments. Nothing at all to do with self-defence.

'The injuries he received were entirely in keeping with his daughter, Amrit, fighting for her life.

'She bit him and she scratched him. Even if she pulled some of his beard hairs out it must have been clear it was because she was struggling hard.'
The trial continues

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SPN Sewadaar

In the court case they are saying that Mr Ubhi face was scratched and hi beard and hair pulled. Now would they understand in the West that it is one of the biggest shames for a Sikh to have his beard and hair pulled by a sibling?

I think killing her was wrong, but if it turns out she attacked him as well like this, then that is wrong too.

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1947-2014 (Archived)

A question came up as to whether Mr. Gurmeet Singh plead guilty. I did not know and did some searching. The answer is he did not plead guilty. This article is background to his plea of self-defense. The jury had to decide whether he was defending himself.

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